Citation AtlasWho is responsible
Citation Atlas is operated by Dinner Plate Creative LLC, Colorado, United States (“we” or “us”). This notice explains how we handle information in this research beta. It covers public browsing, signed-in features and messages sent through the site.
For privacy questions or requests, use Contact Us — account help / data removal. No sign-in is required. Provide a reply email and select permission to contact you if you want a response. Please do not send passwords, identification documents or sensitive research information.
Information we use
Sign-in and account access
Google sign-in supplies an account identifier, email address and, when available, a name. We use these to recognize your account, display account details, separate users’ saved work, enforce allowances and manage access. We store the identifier-to-email association. If an access override is set, we also store your email, access status, allowance and update time. We do not receive your Google password. We request only your identity, email and basic profile; we do not request access to Gmail or Drive.
Saved research
Saved Explorations contain the name you choose and the paper, citation depth, filters and view settings needed to reopen your exploration. Saved Papers contain selected paper details and any notes you add. These records are stored with your account identifier and creation/update times. They are not published to other visitors by the application.
Contact and feedback
Public contact stores your message, category, optional reply email, follow-up preference, report identifier, timestamps and review status. The email is self-reported and unverified. Signed-in feedback also includes your account identifier and sign-in email, any goal or expected-result text you provide, and the paper/snapshot reference if you choose to include it. The operator can review and export reports to investigate problems and improve the service. Follow-up permission is for your message, not a marketing subscription; the site sends no automatic email.
Search, allowances and service health
Researcher search text is sent to our server and, when a source lookup is needed, to OpenAlex. Queries and results are cached for reuse; this search cache is separate from your account’s saved work. Use search for public researcher names, not confidential information.
Public search and contact use an IP-derived hash that changes with the date to limit abuse. The application stores counters with that hash rather than the raw IP address. These hashes are pseudonymous, not a guarantee of anonymity. Hosting providers still receive network information such as your IP address.
Signed-in request and graph-operation counters include your account identifier and date or hour; some operation records also identify the paper or branch requested. Separate daily feature totals count actions such as graph opens and saves without attaching your search text or paper titles to those totals. Operational records track status, timing, errors and research-preparation progress to keep the service working.
Public scholarly data
We obtain and cache public scholarly metadata, including researcher names, affiliations, identifiers, publication details, available abstracts and citation relationships, mainly from OpenAlex. Dated curated examples also incorporate source research identified on their pages. Research data may be incomplete, stale or attributed incorrectly. Looking up a researcher does not create an account for them or establish that they use or endorse Citation Atlas.
Who can access information
The application restricts saved account records to that account’s signed-in requests. This is not end-to-end encryption: the operator and authorized infrastructure providers can access stored information to operate, support and secure the service. Feedback is available in the operator’s private inbox. Operator exports create additional copies that must also be handled as private records.
We use Google for sign-in and Cloudflare for application execution, database storage and research-data files. These providers process information needed to deliver and secure the service. Their own services, cookies and records are governed by the applicable provider terms and policies: Google Privacy Policy and Cloudflare Privacy Policy. Processing may occur in the United States or other countries where providers operate; we do not promise storage in a particular region.
OpenAlex receives source queries and public researcher/paper identifiers needed to retrieve scholarly data. Our source requests do not include your saved notes, feedback or account email. Visiting a publisher, DOI or other external link takes you to a separate service with its own practices.
Citation Atlas does not include advertising trackers, a personal-data sales feature or automated decisions about people’s employment, education or eligibility. We use application information for the service purposes described here. Information may also need to be disclosed to comply with applicable law or address security or abuse.
Browser storage and cookies
The application uses session storage to remember your recent search or researcher page in the current browser tab, and local storage for the keyword-suggestions display preference. Local preferences remain until changed or cleared in your browser. Clearing browser storage does not delete server records. Citation Atlas uses an HttpOnly session cookie lasting up to seven days and a short-lived sign-in transaction cookie. Signing out invalidates the active session. Sign-in and hosting services may use their own cookies or similar technologies; restricting them can affect sign-in. We have not added a separate advertising or cross-site analytics tracker to the application.
Retention and deletion
Saved items remain available until you remove them or account data is removed. Contact reports, account identity/access records, usage counters and cached search data currently have no complete automatic expiry schedule; they can remain until manually removed or replaced. A daily allowance reset or a cache freshness check is not deletion of the older stored record. Public scholarly snapshots can be retained for reuse and reproducibility independently of an account.
You can remove individual saved items from Saved Explorations or Saved Papers. This removes that item from the application’s active records; it does not delete a separately submitted feedback report, exported copy or the public source publication. Logging out or revoking access does not delete account data.
For broader removal, use the contact route below. Requests are reviewed manually and may require identity verification; a typed email address alone is not enough to authorize account changes. We will explain any data that must be retained for a legal or security reason. A request or inbox status is not confirmation that deletion is complete.
We have not established a verified end-to-end erasure period for all hosting backups, provider logs or operator exports. Removing an active record does not establish that every copy has been erased. We will explain known limits when handling a request, subject to applicable legal requirements. The beta is not a guaranteed archival service; keep your own copy of important work.
Your choices and requests
You can browse public discovery pages without signing in, choose what to save, omit optional contact information, and control whether feedback includes paper context. Use Contact Us to request access to, a copy of, correction of or deletion of your personal information, to withdraw message follow-up permission, or to raise an objection or restriction request. If you disagree with a response, use the same route and ask for a review.
Privacy rights and required response periods depend on the law that applies to you and the service. Nothing in this notice limits those rights, including any right to complain to a regulator. We may ask for information reasonably needed to verify a request, but do not send identification documents through the initial form. Requests about your separate Google account or an upstream scholarly index may need to be made to that provider.
Changes to this notice
We will update the date on this page when our practices change and provide additional notice or seek consent where required. Changes to billing, advertising or other material data uses require an updated explanation before those features are introduced.